Three years ago today Patrick Lyoya was driving on the southeast side of Grand Rapids when a city police officer stopped him. The traffic stop quickly escalated into a struggle, culminating in former Grand Rapids Police Department officer Christopher Schurr shooting and killing Lyoya.
Schurr was charged with second degree murder and fired from his job. After years of appeals, his criminal case is expected to begin later this month in Kent County. Since Patrick was killed, the Lyoyas say they’ve been in limbo as the case played out in a series of legal battles.
“What is even more heartbreaking is Patrick’s been dead for three years now, but the cop that killed him is still out there seeing his family, his family is still seeing him, still doing what people that are alive do,” said Patrick’s father, Peter Lyoya. Thomas Lyoya, Patrick’s younger brother, translated for his father in Swahili in an interview with Michigan Public.
Before coming to the United States, Patrick and Dorcas Lyoya and their six children spent nearly a decade living in a refugee camp in Malawi after fleeing violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2014 the Lyoyas were able to immigrate to the United States and settle in Lansing.
Peter Lyoya said Patrick was almost 18 years old at the time.
“He started going to school here, and he thought life was better here than the refugee camp,” said Peter. “He also wished that things were different [in the DRC], but he knew that things were better over here than where he came from.”
Patrick earned his high school diploma in Lansing. Later, he decided to move to Grand Rapids for better job opportunities. Peter said his son took his responsibilities of being the eldest of his five siblings seriously.
“After he got done with school here, he didn’t really get the jobs that he wanted,” said Peter. “It was mostly part time jobs and as soon as he got an opportunity to work full time and be able to help the family. … That's when he moved to Grand Rapids.”
Patrick settled into his new city quickly, finding a job and buying his first car, but he would still visit his family in mid-Michigan every weekend he wasn’t working.
“When he bought his first car and he came down here and told us ‘I’m so glad I moved [to Grand Rapids] because when I was in Lansing I couldn’t have afforded this [car] in the short time that I have.' So he was really excited about that,” said Peter.
Dorcas and Peter Lyoya no longer live in the Lansing apartment where Patrick would visit them. Peter said the family had to move to another apartment complex, not too far from their old place, when their former landlord raised the rent.
Inside the Lyoyas’ new home, the walls are mostly bare, with only a few photographs of Patrick filling some of the empty spaces. They serve as constant reminders of Patrick’s absence in their lives.
“Every February 5, he would come and we would celebrate his birthday and obviously that doesn’t happen anymore,” Patrick's brother, Thomas Lyoya, said. “As the years go by, especially this 2025, things have been getting more and more difficult [financially] with him not being here.”
On the kitchen counter, a photo clip stand holds a flyer featuring an image of Patrick Lyoya and the words “Justice for Patrick” printed on the front. It’s a demand that Peter Lyoya said won’t ever be fully realized.
In December 2022, the family filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against the city of Grand Rapids and Schurr alleging the city’s poor training and history of racial discrimination led to the actions taken by Schurr the day he shot Patrick. In 2023, a U.S. district judge dismissed the city from the case, ruling that the suit did not properly link the city with the shooting. The judge is allowing the civil case against Schurr to continue once the criminal case against him is completed.
“He was working for them, they trained him and he was getting paid by them so to say they’re not responsible for the things that he did doesn't make any sense,” said Lyoya.
"Even though people are still thinking about it, they don't have that fire anymore because it's been taking too long," Peter Lyoya said.
In 2022, Patrick Lyoya’s shooting sparked protests in Grand Rapids and Lansing, with hundreds taking to the streets to demand justice and accountability. Every year since, on the anniversary of Patrick’s death, his family has joined community members in marches. But this year, the family said they are unaware of any planned events. Peter Lyoya said he thinks the drawn-out lawsuits in the case against Schurr have driven many to forget.
“Even though people are still thinking about it, they don't have that fire anymore because it's been taking too long for some unknown reason that I don’t fully understand,” said Peter. “We want justice for Patrick and hopefully as soon as it can happen because it's been three long years, and way past everything else. We just want to get it over with at this point.”
Thomas Lyoya echoed his father’s sentiments, and said that he longs for the day when April 4 is no longer consumed by thoughts of how his brother was killed, but instead is filled with memories of the two of them playing soccer in the refugee camp back in Malawi where the family once called home.
